Halo 2 Beta Hands-On

Share.

We check out the Beta build of Halo 2 and take it for an online spin. Impressions and screens await!

By Hilary Goldstein

Halo 2 is just two months away. Think about that. We've been waiting two years for this game, since it was first revealed at Microsoft's X02 event in August 2002. Now it's nearly upon us. While the single-player must remain a secret for the time being, Bungie has finally decided to bust open the multiplayer treasure chest and let us run our hands through its riches. Back at E3 I told you that it was awesome. Guess what, it's even more awesome now.

The Beta build played was in its final stages. Having lasted roughly two months, the Beta had some 7,000 Microsoft employees worldwide using the real Xbox Live network (as opposed to a test network). This wasn't just about tuning the game to make it as enjoyable as possible, the Beta was also a stress test for Halo 2 on Live. Bungie is dedicated to providing the best possible experience. I know that sounds like a standard line, but these guys really are trying to make the best Xbox Live game out there.

With the Beta now closing, Bungie is entering the final stages and Halo 2 is getting close to completion. While the Beta features a lot of placeholder UI and demonstrates only three different game types (Slayer, Capture the Flag, and Assault) and five maps, it still offers a pretty good idea of what Halo 2 will be offered online.

Kicking Things Off... One nice touch, before I get into the meat of online, is the ability to customize your character. You can choose either a Spartan or Covenant Elite skin, but neither has any physical difference. After that you have numerous color choices for primary and secondary regions and two highlight colors. You wanna be the pink Elite with brown trim? Go for it. There are also different symbols and background patterns you can mix and match and color as you see fit. This symbol becomes your emblem and is shown over your head and next to your name, making it even easier to notice specific players during a game.

To understand the experience of playing Halo 2 online, you really need to first understand the unique way Bungie is handling the online experience. There are two ways to play online, either in unranked "arranged" games or in ranked "matchmade" games. No matter which game you choose, there is no way to choose who hosts. Even in an arranged game you've created, there's no guarantee you'll be the host. That's because Xbox Live figures out which player would make the best host for the entire group and chalks them up behind the scenes. Should that host (who won't even know they are hosting) quit, Halo 2 instantly switches to the next best host. This means that you can enter a game and just keep playing and playing and playing even as others bail out.

That's a pretty awesome idea, but does create one small problem -- a lack of dedicated servers. Bungie isn't certain if they will make dedicated servers for arranged games, but there will definitely be none for match-made games for reasons that will become quite apparent as we delve into that aspect of Halo 2 multiplayer.

Halo 2 supports 16 players online and includes unprecedented four-player split-screen support. The Beta, however, only offered two-player split-screen. While this isn't the hefty 24- or 32-player battles we all once envisioned, it's still nice to see 16 players online killing one another and the option for four players on one box is really ridiculous. I'm not sure how well that will actually run, since it forces the Xbox to render the game four times at once and has to be online with a dozen additional players. Hopefully four-player split-screen runs like a dandy.

Arranged Games If you're the type who likes to be in control of what you play and who you play with, than arranged games, which are unranked, are the way to go for you. You choose the gametype you wanna play -- be it Slayer, Capture the Flag, or any of the other game modes -- and set the seemingly unending parameters to make the perfect match. Just like the original Halo you can make for some really interesting matches, selecting the type of weapons players start with, what weapons are available in a match, what vehicles you have, and numerous other game rule variables.